Famous Georgia peach no longer king of the state’s fruit hill; displaced by blueberries – The Washington Post

ATLANTA — What is the most valuable fruit crop produced in the Peach State?

This is not a trick question, but you may want to pause a second before answering.

Ready? It’s the blueberry.

Georgia is famous as a major producer of the peach, the fuzzy succulent orange fruit whose image appears on state license plates, “welcome to Georgia” billboards and on road signs. When driving in the capital city of Atlanta, you can pass the corner of Peachtree Street and Peachtree Center Avenue, just one block from West Peachtree Street.

There’s just one problem: Blueberries are Georgia’s most lucrative fruit crop, by far.

In a little-noticed development, the value of blueberry production in Georgia beat the peach crop in 2005 — and the gap has grown even bigger since then, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture surveys.

via Famous Georgia peach no longer king of the state’s fruit hill; displaced by blueberries – The Washington Post.